


The Soul Knows What It Wants

by gleefully_musical



Category: Glee
Genre: But in a different way, F/F, Quinn Fabray & Santana Lopez Friendship, Quinn Fabray Needs a Hug, Unholy Trinity Friendship, lucy caboosey unfortunately happens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:49:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21751003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleefully_musical/pseuds/gleefully_musical
Summary: A look at Santana and Brittany's relationship from the beginning. Includes Faberry, and of course, UnHoly Trinity Friendship. Beth will happen in this fic.
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce
Kudos: 27





	1. Seasons Pass

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my first fanfic in this fandom, so I hope you enjoy:) 
> 
> DISCLAIMER:  
> I do not own Glee, nor any characters ever mentioned in the show.

Most people don’t meet their soulmates. Ever. They end up in messy divorces, unhappy marriages, or lonely singledom. Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce were not destined for that terrible end. The two girls met one winter day in kindergarten, in small town Lima, Ohio.

Santana Lopez, six years old, pulled the coat that her Mami had purchased the day before tighter around her skinny shoulders. A large clump of snow fell on her bare head, and she sneezed as she shook her head to free herself of the fluffy, cold flakes. Shivering, she followed Mami into her new elementary school, sneezing once again.

The Lopezs had moved to Lima from sunny California just a week before, when her father was transferred hospitals. Ohio winters were a lot different than California, Santana thought to herself as she pulled her coat on once again to go out for recess. Why couldn’t they stay inside and drink hot cocoa instead? She wasn’t quite sure, but she did know that it was cold outside. Too cold.

Following a small Lucy Fabray out the door, Santana instantly jumped at the sudden bite of cold. Snow began coating her head once again, and she tried to brush off the flakes from her thick waves. She wasn’t wearing mittens, as she didn’t know she would need them. Suddenly, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Santana turned abruptly and came face to face with an adorable blonde.

“Hi! I’m Brittany!” the girl exclaimed cheerfully, shaking Santana’s hand vigorously. “Are you cold? You look cold. Are you new? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”. Santana shook her head in bewilderment.  
“No, I just moved here from California. My name’s Santana. I’m really cold, though. Why is Ohio so freezing?”. Brittany laughed.  
“It’s not cold, silly! Here, have my hat and mitts. I don’t get cold in the winter. I’ve lived here my whole life.”.  
Blushing slightly, Santana took the outstretched pink hat with a unicorn patch and the neon yellow mittens. Brittany helped her put the mittens on, and moved the hat so the unicorn was in the centre.  
“Thank you, Brittany.” she said, ignoring the fuzzy feelings sprouting in her stomach.  
“No problem, Sanny. Will you be my new best friend?”.  
“Sure, Britt. Do you want to make a snow angel? I’ve always wanted to do that.”.  
“Yay! I love angels! My mommy says I look like a baby angel. I think you look like an angel too, Sanny. A really pretty one.”. Blushing again, Santana grabbed Brittany’s hand and ran over to where all the kids were making angels. She knew that this was the start of something really awesome. Like, really awesome.

Weeks went by, as they tend to do. The chilly Ohio winter melted into Ohio spring. Kindergarten was nearly over. Santana adjusted to the climate, and also to Brittany and all her quirks. When Britts talked about unicorns and cats, Santana knew exactly what to say. They baked cookies together, covered Brittany’s kitchen in flour, and made angels in the flour. They painted a big rainbow on Brittany’s playroom with real paint. (Their parents didn’t appreciate that one.). They dyed eggs together for Easter, even though Brittany might have forgotten to boil some of them, (and they might have fallen). Ohio spring defrosted into warm summer.

The two went to the park nearly every day, and built sandcastles, swung on the swingset, and played tag with Lucy, Noah, and Mercedes. Sometimes they went to the beach and chased seagulls all day. Santana would complain about the fact that Ohio had no “real beaches”, and Brittany would giggle and hug her best friend, covering her in small sand particles. San would grump for a few minutes, and then Britt would pepper her cheeks with kisses until she smiled again. Still other days, they would have lemonade stands with Lucy, because her family knew lots of people and they (mostly San and Lucy) could bully them into buying lemonade. If they still said no after Lucy listed her numerous family connections, Brittany would give them her “unicorn face”, which nearly always resulted in a sale. The summer went by quickly, and soon enough the leaves were beginning to fall again. School was just around the corner.

Santana and Brittany were in the same grade one class with Lucy. Their teacher, Miss Baker, was a gentle blonde woman who loved to sing with her small charges. This was the year the UnHoly Trinity was introduced to one Miss Rachel Barbra Berry. The small brunette would always volunteer to sing first at circle time, which got on San’s nerves a lot. Lucy’s, too. But they stayed quiet because Berry, as Santana called her, was actually pretty good at singing. Also Brittany asked them too, and who could say no to those baby blues? Certainly not Santana and Lucy.


	2. Concerts Lead to Spiderman Pajamas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first grade class performs in a holiday concert, the UnHoly Trinity has a sleepover.

In Grade 1, they did an annual Holiday Concert. Rachel was singing a solo, and all the rest were going to do two group songs. Brittany, though, had been dancing since the age of two, and was very good at it. Miss Baker had asked her if she wanted to do a dance solo. She agreed, on one condition. Santana and Lucy were part of it, as they too had been dancers for a while, albeit not as long. So the three were gathered in Lucy’s large bedroom, getting ready.

Santana brushed her thick raven hair out, smiling at the curls that Mami had put in for her the night before. Brittany sat behind her, ready to snap on an elastic to put the soft curls into two ponytails. As soon as San had two pigtails, Lucy tied on two dark red ribbons, pulling them into pretty bows. They repeated the process twice more, except Brittany got green ribbons, ‘cause she was the lead. 

Mrs Pierce and Mrs Fabray had made the girls’ costumes. Brittany had a little green dress, trimmed with white fluff at the cuffs, hem, and neck. Santana and Lucy had red dresses. They slipped their feet into pretty white kid slippers. Lucy led the other two to her big vanity, and pulled out three tubes of lip gloss.   
“Here,” she whispered. “It’ll make our lips look super pretty.”.The three swiped the tubes across their small lips. In the end, Brittany got more gloss on her chin than her lips, but luckily Lucy was well versed in makeup and got it off. They looked at themselves in the mirror.

“Damn, we clean up good!” Santana exclaimed. She didn’t really know what that meant, but her papi said it a lot, so she figured it was okay. Lucy gasped.  
“San, you can’t say things like that!”.  
“Why not? I think we look like pretty unicorns.” Brittany questioned. Lucy just sighed and opened her door to the long, winding Fabray hallway and staircase.  
“Come on, my mom wants to take pictures to put in our Christmas newsletter.”. 

They were quite accomplished photo posers now, as one could only spend so much time with the Pierce family without having a full photo album dedicated to oneself. So the three posed for their mothers, smiles bright, frozen in place. Finally, after what seemed like hours to the seven year olds, their mothers announced that they had quite enough photos and called their fathers out of the sitting room, where they had been having a beer before the concert.

The school was decorated in snowflakes and tinsel, the children having hung it all the day before. The girls’ parents dropped them off at the green room, then went to find their seats. The three looked at each other, and then Lucy, leading the charge as usual, pushed the door open and walked into the room. Santana and Brittany linked pinkies and followed.

Rachel Berry was standing at the centre of the room, clad in a red and green plaid dress, complete with a tiara and little plaid shoes. She was yelling at some third grader who didn’t know who she was.   
“How dare you! I have been the star of Lima’s theatre, vocal, and dance circuits since the tender age of three months, when I made my debut as-”. Santana cut her off.  
“Berry! Quiet, I wants to get my song on, and your constant yapping is making it hard to concentrate.”. Rachel looked suitably chagrined, and then came skipping over to the three of them.  
“Why, hello! Santana, Brittany, Quinn-”  
“Lucy.”.  
“-Lucy, you all look beautiful. While I’m sure your dance routine will be wonderful, I hope you’re aware that the true star of the night will be, of course, me. I’ve selected the song “The First Noel”, for although I am Jewish, I am aware that the vast majority-”.  
“Berry, you’re yapping again.” Santana chided. “Now, if you’ll excuse Britts, Lucy, and I, we need to go rehearse for our trio that will beat you.”. And with that, they walked away. Lucy sighed.  
“Why does she always insist on calling me Quinn? I’m named Lucy.”. Brittany shrugged.  
“Quinn is a magical name too, Lucy. Maybe she just senses the magic, like I do, except she doesn’t know that you don’t like being called Quinn.”. Lucy nodded. 

And with that, the three went into the backstage room to prepare for their dance.

It went awesome, even though Rachel got more applause than them, because Santana’s Mami and Papi let them stay up really late at San’s house after for their sleepover because they were so good. Brittany ate a whole box of Lucky Charms marshmallows before Maribel caught her, and then threw up afterwards. They watched Barbie Twelve Dancing Princesses and Nemo before they went to bed. San’s Papi shooed them upstairs at ten o’clock, saying it was time for bed. They were okay with that, they were tired.

Lucy was putting the curlers in her brown hair when Santana and Brittany came into the bathroom. Santana proudly showed off her Spiderman pajamas, so of course Brittany had to show them her magic unicorn pajamas that glowed in the dark. Then Lucy twirled around in her pink nightgown with a white sash. The three seven year-olds turned off the light in the bathroom and went into San’s room, where they crawled into their sleeping bags. As Santana turned the light out, Brittany whispered to them.  
“I’m really happy that I get to be friends with two special unicorns.”.  
“Me too, Britts.”  
“I am too, Brittany.”  
And with that, a silence fell upon the room as sleep overtook the small girls.


	3. Crayon and Venn Diagrams are the Best Combination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the three aren't in the same third grade class, they think things are going to change forever. Luckily, they don't. Not too much, anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Time jump to Grade 3*

The first day of third grade was a big deal to them. Third graders were like, old. Lucy’s older sister, Frannie, had told them all about the fun things third graders got to do. Things like a field trip to the nearest zoo, eating in the older kid’s cafeteria, and doing extra-hard work. The three girls showed up nice and early, dressed in a summer dress with neat braids and hair ribbons in Lucy’s case, jeans and a graphic t-shirt in Santana’s, and a unicorn t-shirt and leggings in Brittany’s. They were feeling ready to take on the world. That is, until they found out their classes.

The principal, Mr Bell, cleared his throat. “Okay, so in Mrs Thomson’s third grade, we have Rachel Berry…”. Santana prayed real hard to her favourite god.  
“Dear Spiderman God, if you’re up there, please, please let me be in Lucy’s and Britt’s class.”.  
“Lucy Fabray…” the principal continued. Santana crossed her fingers and prayed hard as she smiled at Lucy when she went to go stand behind her new teacher.  
“Santana Lopez…”. Yes! She crossed the playground to go stand with Lucy, sending Brittany a reassuring smile. Perfect, they would all be together and they could continue their plans for world domination and unicorn cars and-  
“And Marie Younus. Now, for Mr Brosnan, we have Mike Chang…”. Santana couldn’t believe her ears. She turned to look at Lucy. She looked just as surprised as Santana was. Brittany was standing in line, obviously fighting back tears. She was clutching her Wonder Woman lunch pail Santana had bought her, her knuckles white.   
“Brittany Pierce…”. Santana could only watch with horror as her bestest friend in the whole world (don’t tell Lucy) crossed the playground to the other side. Lucy tugged at Santana’s shirt.  
“San, we have to go now.”.  
Santana could only watch as the bright blue eyes of Brittany Pierce faded into the distance. 

Lucy and Santana rushed as fast as they could to get outside at recess. They ran, Santana pulling Lucy by the arm, to their tree, where Brittany was sitting. She stood up as soon as she saw her best friends.  
“Sanny! Lucy! I thought you forgot about me, but then I remembered that we’re like magnets, and we always find each other-”. San cut her off with a big hug, which Lucy quickly joined.  
“I love you guys.” Santana murmured into Brittany’s blonde hair. Lucy squeezed tighter. The three continued to talk, spending the rest of recess playing magic unicorns, as per Brittany’s request. Nothing had changed, even though everything had.

They continued to spend every afternoon together, and Santana and Lucy thought all was well. That is, until they went outside during a chilly November day to find an empty tree. Brittany wasn’t there. Immediately, the two began running around the playground to find her. Ten minutes later, they were just about to give up when they heard a sniffle from around the corner. Turning the corner, they found Brittany sitting on the ground, crying, and clutching a piece of paper balled up in her fist.

“Britt, what happened?” Santana asked, as she and Lucy rushed to sit beside their friend. Brittany sniffled, and thrust the paper into Lucy’s hand. She uncrumpled it, and read what was written there. The teacher asked the class to compare and contrast a dog and a cat, in a Venn Diagram. Brittany had written, in crayon,  
“I don’t lik dogs, but I have a cat named Lord Tubbinton and I just got him from the stor. He liks to smoke cigrattes but my daddy said thats bad for him. Dogs are cute too but i lik cats better, even thouh i lik unicorns the best.”

There was a big, red F at the top of the page. Brittany sniffled again. “I thought that F stood for fabulous, ‘cause that’s what you say I am, but Noah told me it means F for failure and then everyone laughed at me.”. Santana stood up and rolled up her sleeves. She started walking away, but Lucy grabbed her arm.  
“Where are you going, San?”.  
“To teach that punk Noah Puckerman what being a failure feels like. It feels like my fist to his nu-”. Lucy cut her off.  
“San, I don’t think that’s the best idea.”. Santana shook Lucy off and walked off to where Noah and his gang were standing. 

Lucy and Brittany watched from afar as she punched Noah where the sun don’t shine and stalked off. Then Lucy went to sweet talk Noah into not telling the teacher. Brittany sat in her corner, a smile forming on her young face. Her friends still protected her, even though they weren’t in the same class anymore. All was well. 

That was the beginning of many times where Santana would protect Brittany, while Lucy would sweep in afterwards to clean up the mess. It was the start of a long era.


	4. Lessons are Worst Learnt in the Fabray's Kitchen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Santana and Brittany are going over to the Fabray's for a sleepover, as Lucy doesn't go to the same middle school as them. Right before they leave, however, Brittany has a request for Santana that might end badly...or incredibly well.

They were in middle school now, grade seven. Things were different though, and not good different. Lucy lived in a different neighbourhood than Santana and Brittany, and therefore didn’t go to the same middle school as them. She had become quiet and reserved at her new school, and was overweight. This led to her being intensely unpopular, referred to as “Lucy Caboosey”. Even though Lucy was sad at school, she, Santana, and Brittany still remained friends. They still called themselves the Unholy Trinity, still had sleepovers every other weekend, still talked about boys together while giggling in their pyjamas into bowls of popcorn.

Santana and Brittany were in San’s bedroom right now, getting ready for one of those sleepovers. Santana was putting lip gloss on, the same kind (Very Berry) that Lucy had given them so many years ago. Brittany sat on her bed, brushing her hair up into a ponytail. She broke the comfortable silence.  
“San?”  
“Yeah, Britts?”  
“Have you ever kissed anyone?”. Santana stopped her careful application and turned to face her best friend.   
“Yeah, I kissed Puck last week. Why do you ask?”  
“Well, I haven’t ever kissed anyone, and I was wondering if-”  
“No, Britts! I’m not kissing you. That’s wrong.” Santana exclaimed, whipping back around to face her reflection again and angrily applying the finishing touches to her lip gloss.   
“Oh, okay. That’s cool. Can we go now? I have to show Lucy my new sweater!”.  
“Yeah, for sure. C’mon, Britts.” Santana grabbed her overnight bag and reached out for the blonde’s pinky, then pulled her hand back. That was wrong. Even though she wanted to kiss Brittany, she knew she shouldn’t. She couldn’t.

When they arrived at the Fabray mansion, they walked right in. Judy had told them a few years ago to just come right in whenever, and they held her to that. Lucy was sitting on the couch, her dark brown hair in two tight pigtails. Brittany squealed as soon as she saw her.  
“LUCY! Hi! Do you like my new sweater? I missed you lots.”. Lucy smiled, flashing a mouth full of braces.  
“That’s a really nice sweater, Britt. It looks pretty on you.”. Santana flashed Lucy a smile, which was quickly returned. 

“How’s school, Luce? You still showing off that awesome brain of yours to all those suckers?” Santana asked around a mouthful of pizza. Lucy shrugged.  
“The academics are fine, yes, I guess. I’m over high honours in all my classes. But I wish I was at your school. The kids are so mean.”.  
“That happens at every school, L,” Santana said, patting her on the back. “Just wait, though. In high school, we’ll be together again. Ruling the school, as we should be.”. Lucy nodded, and they continued eating until Brittany called out a question.  
“Lucy, can I feed your fish pizza? Or is that not allowed?”.

Santana looked at the bright light of Lucy’s clock from it’s spot above her head. 1:15 am. Crap, she needed to go to sleep. But she couldn’t, because she couldn’t stop thinking about Brittany. Kissing Brittany, to be more exact. So she got out of her sleeping bag and walked downstairs to Lucy’s kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water. She needed to stop thinking about her best friend. It was wrong, she knew it was wrong.

She almost dropped her water when she heard soft footsteps padding down the stairs. Santana could recognize Britt’s footsteps anywhere. So she put down the water and turned to face her best friend, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs with her arms crossed over her chest.   
“Sanny, you need to sleep. We have a cheer practise tomorrow at noon, and the coach from the high school is coming to scout us out. Why don’t you come back to bed?”. Santana raised her head to look at Brittany.  
“Britt, I can’t sleep.”  
“Oh, is this because of what I asked you to do before? I’m really sorry if it felt like I was pressuring you in any way-”. Brittany didn’t get to finish her sentence because a pair of soft lips crashed into her own, effectively cutting off her sentence. She leaned into the kiss, feeling Santana kiss her harder. But when Brittany tried to enter San’s mouth with her tongue, the shorter girl backed off immediately.  
“Whoa, Britts. I’m helping you practise kissing, not making out. Besides, I’m not gay! That was just to help you, so we’re not gonna do that anymore, ‘kay?”. Brittany frowned,  
“Why not? I liked it, Sanny. No one has to ever know.”  
“Because, Brittany. I said, no.”.

Santana stalked off, heading back upstairs, and climbed back into her sleeping bag, first checking to make sure that Lucy was still sleeping. The heavier girl was fully passed out, and looked to have not moved since Santana had gone downstairs. As Santana closed her eyes, she almost started crying. She had told Brittany that they couldn’t ever do that again, but the reason was because she wanted to do it again. It had felt so right when it was Brittany’s lips pressed against hers instead of Noah Puckerman’s. They were soft, and tasted of Very Berry lip gloss, and-  
She shook her head internally. No, she had to stop this, this thinking. She needed to go to sleep.

As Santana drifted off, her last thought was of how she left Brittany all alone downstairs, and how she wished she could go down and kiss her all over again.

The next morning, the three woke up to the sound of bacon sizzling on the frying pan and the warm smell of fresh pancakes. Judy Fabray was standing over the stove, frying the bacon when they walked downstairs. Santana and Brittany flanked Lucy on either side, both of them still feeling somewhat awkward about what had happened the night before. Judy turned as soon as she heard the three come downstairs, a huge smile lighting up her face. Lucy didn’t have very many friends over, like, ever. 

“Good morning, girls! How did you sleep?”  
“Great Mom, thanks.” Lucy replied, sitting down at the table. Santana and Brittany followed, sitting on opposite sides of her, still not ready to talk to each other just yet.

Breakfast at the Fabray house was always a big, hearty feast. That didn’t mean Lucy’s parents were actually there for the whole affair, no. Rather, Judy slaved away cooking the meal, and then fixed up a plate for Russell, bringing it into his study along with the one meager piece of toast she had prepared for herself. Santana, Brittany, and lucy would sit at the big table and stuff themselves to the brim with the delicious food. 

Today was different though. Lucy wasn’t a very loud person naturally, so she ususally just sat and ate, content with listening to two people who actually cared about her fill the silence. But Santana and Brittany weren’t quite ready for that yet, and therefore, the room was quiet, except for the sounds of chewing and the occasional “pass the syrup, please”. It was weird. Lucy couldn’t handle the quiet, so she spoke up.  
“Thank you guys so much for coming over, it really means a lot to me.”  
“No problem, Luce.” Santana replied around a mouthful of egg.  
“Yeah, no problem. You’re my favourite Lucy Q in the whole wide world.” Brittany continued, getting odd looks from the others. “What? Lucy’s middle name is Quinn. I think Lucy Q sounds special and cool, better than just Lucy. Just like I call Santana Sanny, or she calls me Britts. You need a nickname other than Luce.”. Lucy smiles shyly at her blonde best friend.  
“Thanks, Britt. I really like Lucy Q, actually. I think the name Quinn is starting to grow on me.”. And with that, they descended into silence once more, except this time it was a peaceful silence, broken in Santana’s mind only with one thing.

She had kissed Brittany. And she had liked it.


	5. Mami Lopez Makes the Best Tamales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Santana and Brittany talk about the kiss, and finish middle school.

Santana’s Mami picked them up from Lucy’s house, and the ride home was awkward and highly unlike them. As soon as they got home, she let them go upstairs to Santana’s room, leaving to go get groceries, telling the girls to ‘work out their problems’ and she would ‘be making her famous tamales’. They walked slowly up the stairs, Brittany trying to take Santana’s hand, and Santana shaking it off.

When they reached Santana’s room, which was adorned with a sign (hand painted) by Brittany, stating that ‘This is San’s room, stay out or she’ll cut you’. Santana pushed open the door, throwing her bag in a corner and collapsing on her bed, hiding her head in her pillow.

Brittany tiptoed up beside her best friend’s pillow, sitting down gently on the bed and brushing the hair off of her neck. She laid down beside the young girl, hugging her tightly. Surprised Santana didn’t shake it off, she leaned in closer, rolling Santana over so she faced her. Santana was closing her eyes tightly, and Brittany giggled at how cute she looked. Pressing a kiss to Santana’s forehead, she pulled back slightly. San opened her eyes.

“Britt, we can’t kiss.”  
“Why not? I really liked it. Didn’t you?  
“No! I mean, yes! But we can’t, Brittany. It’s not right.”  
“I think it’s perfectly fine. You’re a unicorn, and I’m a bicorn, and we can kiss because it feels right to us. It doesn’t matter what other people say, because all that matters is what we think. And I think that I like kissing you, and I want to do it more.”. 

With that, Brittany leaned in, placing a gentle kiss to Santana’s lips. Santana returned the kiss, briefly, before she pulled away again.  
“Alright, fine. But only as practise for boys, okay?”.  
Brittany nodded. She would take what she could get. Santana closed the gap between them this time, and it was pure heaven. They almost didn’t hear Santana’s mami calling them for dinner, but when they did, they jumped apart quickly, smoothed their hair, and walked downstairs like nothing had happened. Mrs Lopez's tamales were legendary, after all.

This happened more and more frequently over the next while, they found ways to kiss almost everywhere and anywhere. Santana didn’t talk about it to Brittany, who knew it was better not to bring anything up if she wanted to keep doing anything with San. So they maintained the thought that the kissing was only for ‘practise’ with boys. 

Things began to change elsewhere too. Grade 7 changed to 8, and soon they were busy constantly with practicing cheerleading routines. Both girls wanted to make the Cheerios in high school, so they threw themselves headfirst into the cheer squad at their middle school. It was fairly easy for both of them, Brittany especially. She’d been taking dance lessons six times a week since preschool, so all the flipping and routines they had to do were a piece of cake.

The other thing that started to change was boys. Boys started noticing the two of them, and Brittany noticed them too. Santana, anxious not to be left behind in this new game of dating, started flirting heavily with them all, ignoring the pang in her chest she got when Brittany watched her do it. She couldn’t think about that.

But still, she couldn’t help but notice the way her heart fluttered when Brittany kissed her gently. When she kissed Puck, he was rough and hard, and her heart didn’t feel anything except a guilty throb. He tasted gross too. Brittany tasted like Very Berry lip gloss. Puckerman tasted like onions and grease, and on occasion, dirt and sweat. However, she knew that she, as the ‘hottest piece of meat in this school’ (Puck’s words, not hers) should have a boyfriend, even if Puck was kinda gross and didn’t actually take her on dates, just to his room to make out.

Santana and Puck were on-again, off-again. Puck would say something stupid, she’d slap him, they’d break up. But a day later, they’d be back together because: a) she needed a boyfriend, and she guessed he was hot, and b)she actually trusted him. Santana knew that Puck was a good guy, and that he may have a perverted, dirty sense of humour and mind, but she did enjoy spending time with him.

Then there was Brittany. Britts was an...interesting case. Santana was pretty sure that 90% of the boys she kissed were just using her for her looks. If she had even the slightest inkling that they were, or that they thought her Britts was stupid, she’d go all Lima Heights on them. Spanish curse words and all. It was her right as best friend.

Santana also loved (even though she would never, ever admit it) cheering Brittany up with butterfly kisses on her cheeks. Then she would give her a real kiss. Brittany’s cheeks would go pink and her blue eyes would become even more spellbinding.

They continued in this pattern, Santana beating up mean boys for Brittany, comforting her with a soft kiss, and then going over to Puck’s right after. There, she would make out with Puck. It continued for so long that Brittany just sat and listened to Santana as she talked about rounding the bases with Puck at school. They were only at second, but she “figured the rest would come soon”. 

Finally, it was graduation day. They would be going to high school in two months, and the two weren’t quite sure how they felt about that. There were bonuses though. Getting to be back with Lucy was definitely one of them, and hopefully making the Cheerios was another. Santana knew with Britts at her side, and Lucy coming along, they could rule the school.


	6. Disney Trips Lead to Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the summer between eighth and ninth grade, a time for change and growth. But one of the members of the UnHoly Trinity might be a little more changed than most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is staying super safe and healthy. Hope you enjoy!

The summer between eighth and ninth grade passed as those summers tend to do, full of worry and excitement, empty promises to hang out at high school, summer ‘romances’, and tropical vacations. Santana’s family went to Disney that summer, as a way to try to reconnect Santana with her more soft and childish side. Brittany came to, because that was the only way Santana agreed to go. Brittany had never been to Disney, anyway, and Santana thought that was the perfect opportunity to take her. 

They had tried to invite Lucy, but the brunette had declined the offer, telling them in her soft, soothing voice that she had a lot of reading to catch up on and she would see them when they got back before they left again for cheer camp.

Cheer camp was something else that was going to happen during that summer. To most, it didn’t sound very appealing, spending two weeks eating rabbit food and doing wind sprints in the heat while Coach Sue Sylvester yelled at you through a megaphone, but Brittany and Santana knew it was their chance to get to the top of the high school food chain. They could rule the school and do whatever they wanted. The added bonus? They could protect Lucy.

So, off they went to Disney, where Santana pretended she wasn’t scared of the Tower of Terror and Brittany really wasn’t scared. They ate way too many things shaped like Mickey Mouse (“but they’re waffles shaped like him, Sanny! Please???) and came back laden with souvenirs, and a special little bundle of souvenirs for Lucy. 

As soon as they pulled into Santana’s driveway, Brittany pulled out her brand new sparkly pink phone and sent Lucy a text, inviting her over to swim in the Lopez’s pool. Lucy’s reply was prompt and completely grammatically correct, telling Brittany that unfortunately, she had to attend a business dinner for her dad, but she hoped they had a great time in Disneyland, and brought her lots of souvenirs! Brittany shot off a quick reply, and followed Santana into the house, thinking nothing of it.

The week before cheer camp passed quickly, Brittany and Santana working out every day to ensure they were properly in shape, and limiting their junk food intake to prepare themselves for the one leaf of lettuce they heard was coming their way. Because of this, they didn’t see Lucy at all, and soon enough it was the day. The two lugged their packed bags downstairs, dressed in the Cheerio red that had been ordered in the brochure they had received, and sat down at the breakfast table, where Brittany’s mom had laid out toast and fruit. 

“Girls, we’ll be driving another one of your friends to the camp today as well, okay? She should be arriving soon.” Mrs. Pierce said, folding laundry at the counter. The two nodded, still half-asleep. As Mrs Pierce walked away, Santana came to her senses and called out after her.   
“Who?”. She got no response, just Mrs Pierce continuing to hum along with the tune playing in her ears. “God, I hope it’s not that awful Rachel Berry. If she decides to be a Cheerio, I might just have to-”. Thankfully, she was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

The two Cheerios hopefuls ran to the door, (well, Britt ran-Santana grumbled as she was pulled alongside her), and threw it open. Standing on the doorstep, laden down with an alarming amount of red and white bags, was someone. San knew she knew this girl, but couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She drew her eyes up the girl’s long, tanned legs, past the white tennis shoes, up towards the tiny black shorts, the tight red athletic t-shirt, over the blonde hair, past the perfect nose, and stopped at the hazel eyes. Man, she knew those eyes! Who was this girl?

“Hi…” the girl muttered shyly, her eyes casting downwards. Brittany gasped, pointing a slightly-trembling finger at the mystery blonde.  
“Lucy?”. That’s who it is, Santana thought, realizing that the cheerleader-wannabe standing in front of her was, in fact, her formerly overweight, brunette, bespectacled friend.   
“Quinn, actually.” Lucy- no, Quinn- responded, sounding a little more confident. She met Brittany and Santana’s eyes each in turn, holding their gazes a fraction longer than she used to.  
“Well? Can I come in? I need to dump these bags, my feet are killing me.”. Brittany swallowed the air she had been holding in and nodded, stepping out of the way and pulling Santana with her. Quinn followed, proving that it was her, as she put her tennis shoes on the spot that had always been Lucy’s in the shoe rack and put her bag up to the left of Santana’s, as was her normal spot too. This new Lucy tugged on her blonde ponytail nervously, but led the way straight to the couch, sitting down and folding her hands primly in her lap. 

Brittany and Santana exchanged a quick look, but sat down on either side of their friend. Brittany gave her a tight hug, which Quinn returned, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Santana reached for the remote, and turned on Brittany’s favourite cartoon, which the three watched in silence until Mrs Pierce came in to tell them it was time to leave. The three picked up their red and white Cheerios duffel bags and followed her to the car, where they sat quietly the whole ride, listening to the music.

The two weeks of cheer camp were everything the three had heard and everything they hadn’t. Sure, Sue Sylvester spent her days standing on the bleachers while they ran laps, shouting insults into her red megaphone. They barely got any not-structured time, and cabin activities included group workouts and scrutinizing faults of others. But strangely, Sue liked them. She still insulted them and made racist jokes about Santana’s family, but she took an interest in them. Brittany could perform any routine Sue threw at her perfectly, Santana could do almost the same, and could keep the rest in line with her particular brand of HBIC. 

Quinn, though? Sue loved Quinn. Adored her. Told her frequently that she reminded her of “a young Sue Sylvester”. The three weren’t sure if this was a huge compliment, but Sue definitely thought it was. Quinn was Head Cheerio by the end of the first week, the first freshman in Cheerios history. She was overjoyed, but didn’t let the HBIC stone-cold face slide off, revealing Lucy underneath. No, Q settled for riding beside Sue on her Cheerio brand golf cart, yelling at the squad running behind them to hurry up. Almost everyone was afraid of her, even the seniors. Everyone was in awe of her. She’d set herself up perfectly for ruling McKinley.

Brittany and Santana barely talked to her during the two weeks. Granted, they didn’t have any time to even talk to each other, Sue kept them so busy. By the time Santana’s mom pulled into the pick-up lane and the three climbed in, they’d only spoken to her about 5 times. They were confused, Brittany especially. She didn’t recognize her friend behind the hair dye, nose job, and heavy makeup. Quinn was mean, too. But they still loved her. She was still their Lucy Q.

When they reached Quinn’s house, Britt and Santana got out as well, grabbing their duffle bags. Quinn spun around, crossing her arms over the WMHS logo on her chest, and sending them a true HBIC glare.  
“What on earth are you doing?” she huffed. Santana smirked at her.  
“Well, Q, we’re having a good old fashioned UnHoly Trinity sleepover! Britts and I already cleared it with the ‘rents.”. Quinn’s face lit up momentarily, before the glare settled back over it.  
“I’m busy. My dad wouldn’t let me have a sleepover anyways.” she said, looking semi-relieved. Brittany smiled.  
“Don’t worry Quinn! My mom called your parents, and your dad is fine with it. We’re super excited to meet the new you. I really like your hair that way. Blonde squad!” she said, holding out her hand for a high-five, which Quinn reluctantly met. A small smile tugged at Quinn’s lips, and she turned around, walking up to her porch. Santana and Brittany linked pinkies and followed, both feeling a nervous sense of trepidation tugging at their stomachs. This was going to be interesting, that’s for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so my name is Quinn, and it's probably going to get a bit weird writing about Lucy Q now, but I love her, so I will continue to write her many storylines. Does anyone have any nicknames for Quinn, Santana, or Brittany you want me to use? I obviously have a lot for Quinn, but some other input would be awesome.  
> Hope you liked!


	7. School Shopping and Santana Don't Work Well Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Unholy Trinity have a sleepover, we get some Quinn and Britt bonding, and then they go school shopping, much to Santana's chagrin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone take care of themselves! Stay safe out there:) and remember to SOCIAL DISTANCE. I'm supposed to audition for Newsies in June, and I'd like to do it in person. Hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm a huge lover of anything Unholy Trinity friendship! The writers could have made so much of it, but they made it pretty catty and then all of a sudden they were friends again? I don't know, but I would have loved more of the three of them.

Once they were all inside, Santana turned to Quinn, a frown on her face.   
“Do you not have any junk food in this house?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest heavily. Quinn turned pink.  
“Well, no. I mean, junk food is really bad for you. I’m trying to keep my weight healthy, and-”. She was cut off by Santana unzipping her backpack to reveal a whole host of sugary, salty, and generally unhealthy foods.  
“That’s okay, Q. Sanny and I brought lots of food because we knew you probably wouldn’t have any.” Brittany explained, a slightly devilish smirk appearing on her pale face. Quinn smiled weakly.  
“Thanks, B. But how did you get all this? We drove home together, and we didn’t stop anywhere with food.” she questioned, her brow furrowing slightly and her head tilting to the side. Brittany giggled.  
“Silly, we brought it from camp!”. Quinn looked even more puzzled.  
“B, it was a no junk food camp. We literally ate lettuce and drank those weird sand smoothies for two weeks. Now, where did you really get it?”. Brittany opened her mouth to answer, but Santana beat her to it.  
“Now, Lucy Q-”  
“Don’t call me that.” Quinn nearly growled.  
“Okay, Q-tip it is. Now, Q-tip, do you really need to know where Britts and I found this delicious food, or do you just need to eat it?” Santana said, smirking. Quinn uncrossed her arms, sighing somewhat reluctantly.  
“Eat it,” she answered, grabbing a bag of Sour Patch Kids and walking into the living room. Brittany and Santana linked pinkies and followed her.  
“That’s my girl!” Santana crowed, opening a bag of Doritos and sinking into the cushions on the Fabray’s entirely-too-fancy-for-a-living-room couch. Brittany sat down next to her with the Dots (Santana totally hadn’t just gotten them to see that smile on her best friend’s face), and cuddled into San’s side, resting her feet on Quinn. Sighing, Quinn grabbed the remote.  
“Bring It On?” she asked gruffly, trying not to let her friends see her tears.  
“Of course.” Santana replied, not paying attention. Brittany, however, noticed, and switched positions, laying her feet in Santana’s lap and ending up halfway on top of Q. Quinn thought about shoving her off gently, or even not-so-gently, but decided against it. Brittany was comfy, she was kind, and best of all, she didn’t judge Quinn.

It was midnight by the time they turned the television off and went upstairs, Brittany nearly carrying a half-asleep Santana up, who kept insisting that she wasn’t tired, “just bored, this party sucks, Q”. Quinn was following silently, smiling to herself. She did love those two weirdos. She’d been afraid that Britt and Santana wouldn’t want to hang out with her anymore, that they’d been doing it out of a sense of charity, and that now she was skinny and blonde they would abandon her for other friends. But here they were, Brittany with her Dots and quiet cuddles, Santana with her loud, sarcastic humor and secret softness, still here, still treating her like their best friend. She was super duper extra happy, but of course, if asked, she’d reply with an answer that was definitely not that goopy. Things were alright.

Brittany deposited a sleeping Santana on Quinn’s king-size bed. Turning to face Quinn, she sat down on the shaggy carpet and patted the spot next to her. Quinn sat down slowly, brushing a stray piece of blonde hair out of her face. Britt held her arm out from her body, and Quinn crawled into Brittany’s offered hug, resting her head on her shoulder. Brittany started drawing circles on Quinn’s back, trying to calm her down so she could talk to her. When she could feel the blonde head on her shoulder start to fully relax, she opened her mouth to speak.  
“Q, I love you.” . Startled, Quinn opened her mouth to respond, but Brittany pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh. I’m talking. You are one of my bestest best friends in the world. I love you like a sister, and I would do anything for you. I know sometimes I’m a little behind on school stuff, and I thought that on St Patrick’s Day you were supposed to dye your hair green and follow rainbows until I was twelve and you found me in the dumpster behind Breadstix, but I’m good at Lucy Q stuff. I know you. I know that your favourite colour is mahogany because you like the way it sounds, you can do all kinds of cool yo-yo tricks, and you called your sister Grannie for four years when you were little because you couldn’t say Frannie. Why didn’t you tell me or San about how sad you were? I hate seeing my unicorns upset, and you look really upset.”. Quinn tensed up.  
“Britt, I am happy. This is the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I look the way I want to look, the way popular girls are supposed to look. I’m already Head Cheerio, Coach loves me, and I have a great high school career ahead of me. Besides, I always liked the name Quinn better anyways. It’s more sophisticated.” she defended, heat rising in her cheeks. Brittany nodded solemnly.  
“Okay. If this makes you happy, I won’t talk about Lucy anymore, even though that makes me a little sad. If you weren’t happy when you were Lucy, does that mean you don’t want to hang out with me and Sanny anymore? We were part of Lucy. I don’t want to lose you, Quinn.” Brittany’s big blue eyes filled up with tears and Quinn looked alarmed.  
“No, Brittany! I would never leave you or San, even though I might contemplate leaving San behind next time we go to Breadstix, or anywhere in public. You guys are my people. UnHoly Trinity forever, okay?”  
“Yay!” Brittany cheered quietly, mindful of Santana sleeping next to them. That girl could sleep through anything, though, so her soft sleep breathing continued. Quinn burrowed deeper into Brittany, and B felt something wet on her shirt. Tears. She pulled Quinn in tight, and stroked her hair gently. Sure, Brittany wasn’t always the sharpest crayon in the box, (she preferred them dull anyways), but she loved her friends with a fierce, loyal heart.

Quinn fell asleep pretty quickly after that, and Brittany carefully lifted her up and placed her in the bed next to Santana, climbing in after her and pulling the covers up around all three of them. All was right in Brittany’s small corner of the universe.

The next morning, Quinn woke up to Santana’s foot in her face and Brittany’s arms wrapped tight around her. She blinked, disoriented for a second, then realized where she was and what was going on. It was seven thirty, later than her normal time of wake up, but she knew Santana wouldn’t be up for a while longer, and Britt would come down soon enough, so she carefully extracted herself from the tangle of limbs and went downstairs.  
Her parents weren’t home (were they ever?), so she turned on the stove and began to prepare pancake batter for them while frying bacon. Quinn had been trained since a very tender age in the ways of being a good housewife and the skills sometimes came to good use. As the aroma of sizzling bacon filled the air, a blonde head came skipping down the stairs. Brittany, still in her rainbow onesie, came into the kitchen with a huge grin on her face.  
“Yay! Bacon means happy Quinn. Does that mean you feel better?”. Quinn passed Brittany a tray of fruit and a knife, gesturing for her to cut it up, which she happily began to do.  
“Yeah, thanks B. You should open a psychiatric booth, you know? You give great advice.” Quinn responded, grinning at her friend. Brittany gasped.  
“Like Lucy in Snoopy!” she exclaimed. Quinn laughed.  
“Britt, you know most people call it Charlie Brown or Peanuts. But yes, like Lucy.”. Brittany caught a slight wince when Quinn said her former name, but shrugged it off and continued.  
“Well, Snoopy is obviously in charge there. He has a flying doghouse! So I’m going to open a Snoopy booth and charge one dollar because in today’s economy, there’s no way I could live off five cents a session.” she said seriously. Quinn grinned.  
“That’s true, Britt.” she replied, continuing to pour batter onto the skillet. Grabbing a handful of chocolate chips, she carefully placed them in a smiley face pattern. Brittany noticed and began cheering.  
“Yes! Smiley pancakes!”. Quinn blushed and Brittany laughed, quieting down and chopping up a particularly obstinate apple. They continued to work in silence for a while longer, the only source of noise coming from Brittany humming to herself and the sound of the pancakes and bacon cooking. 

By the time breakfast was on the table, Santana finally made her way downstairs, looking grumpy as usual. She did, however, crack a smile when Brittany showed her the smile pancakes, but it quickly disappeared as Quinn started talking about back-to-school shopping.  
“Ew, Q, why are you ruining breakfast for me? I wantz to get my pancake on!” she whined, stabbing a fork into her syrup-drenched mess. Quinn rolled her eyes.  
“Santana, can you please use proper grammar? You’re not from Lima Heights Adjacent.”.   
“Sanny, your dad is a doctor, remember?” Brittany said, giggling. Santana blushed and squirmed in her seat.   
“Yeah, well, my abuela lives in Lima Heights Adjacent. We all know she raised me anyway.” she muttered. Quinn and Brittany shot each other a look, trying not to giggle. Santana really liked to put on a badass look, but she was really a big old softie underneath.   
“So, school shopping?” Quinn asked brightly. Santana groaned and threw an orange slice at her.

Two hours later, they found themselves at the very small, very rural Lima strip mall, standing in front of a wall full of pencil crayons. Santana was very huffy, her arms crossed tightly and her bottom lip stuck out, but Brittany bounced around looking at all the different colours of crayons and markers, and Quinn was a sucker for pretty notebooks. She was definitely the girl who went home and rewrote her notes in a pretty notebook, complete with at least four different colours of highlighters and gel pens. Santana was the girl who stole Quinn’s notes, but could still stay on Honour Roll without them. She didn’t like back to school shopping most of the time because she didn’t want to stop having summer, but something was a little different this year.

They stopped at Breadstix for lunch, which brightened San up a lot. She used her new Cheerios-issue backpack to stuff breadsticks in, causing Brittany to laugh and Quinn to roll her eyes. The waitresses all knew their names because they went there so often, and so they had a pretty enjoyable time, talking and acting like fourteen year old girls generally do. Until Santana started to cry.

San never cried in public, so Q and Brittany were instantly concerned. Brittany gave the girl a hug, and Quinn quietly asked her if she was alright.   
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Santana huffed, wiping her face hurriedly and straightening up. Brittany tilted her head and Quinn quirked her eyebrow.  
“Really, Sanny? Are you sure you’re okay? Because we can leave now if you want,” Brittany said, Quinn nodding from across the table. Santana shook her head.  
“No, I’m okay. I-I’m just worried about high school. I mean, I love you guys, but I can be a bit of a bitch, and if you’re in my way to popularity, well. I will cut you down in the blink of an eye and then feel terrible about it after.” she explained, sniffling as she talked. Brittany smiled.  
“That’s okay, because I love you no matter what.” she responded, hugging Santana tightly. Quinn looked concerned.  
“San, I’m worried about that too. I mean, you saw how I was at camp,” she said, Santana and Brittany nodding. “If you two are in my way, I honestly don’t think I’d hesitate to smack you down, especially you, Santana. But just know that I do love you two, a lot. I’m just not good at showing it.”. Brittany crawled under the table and hugged Quinn. The three did their super secret handshake, giggling slightly. They were starting high school in three days. Nothing would ever be the same. How different things would be though, they didn’t know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked:) PLEASE review and leave kudos!

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a review to let me know what you thought. Hope you liked it!


End file.
